Gladys Nistor

b. 1960, Rosario, Argentina

Gladys Nistor’s bodiless work is playful and paradoxical, floating in space, boldly illuminating an imaginary dimension. Nistor precisely balances light and dark in order to release objects from gravitational laws. By constructing intense contrast, the artist distils aesthetics down to their very core. With striking simplicity and intriguing illusion, she leaves the viewer bewildered. Eyes and mind are conflicted to question the mechanisms of both the work and our own perception of it.

The series ‘Objets de Lumière’ by Gladys Nistor is site-specific, every work is uniquely and intimately tailored to the space. The works leave convention behind by breaking away from frame, canvas and three-dimensionality to fully occupy the environment.

Gladys Nistor was born in Argentina, studied Philosophy in Israel and in 1990, she received a scholarship from the French Government in to study fine art at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1994, she received a Master in Fine Arts from the Université de Paris VIII. Experiencing early success in her home country, through the years her work saw a dramatic transformation increasingly focused on a minimal expression and subtraction of matter, giving her a growing presence in France and culminating in her participation in Painting Zero Degree. Inspired by Roland Barthes’ book “Writing Degree Zero”, curator Carlos Basualdo presented artists who were reducing their artworks through radical means, focusing on pictorial practices that fitted neither the concept of abstract paintings nor that of the ready-made. Established names such as Robert Ryman and Daniel Buren were featured alongside ten emerging artists including Gladys Nistor. Presented by Independent Curators International (ICC) the exhibition toured museums in the USA for two years to great acclaim and where Nistor’s works claimed the limelight.

Temporarily, disillusioned with the realities of “life as an artist”, Nistor took a step back from her practice to work as a designer in Paris for over a decade. However, the deep and incontestable emotional and spiritual necessity to return to her artistic work, has brought her back in full force to produce her most innovative series of works: Objets de Lumière. The series teams not only with vitality but is also executed with the maturity of an artist that has gone through a process of deep introspection and reflection.

Puerta Roja is proud to present in Gladys Nistor in Asia for the first time in 2017 at a time when the artists career is reignited with full force.